ZERO JUDGEMENT

ZERO TOLERANCE CASE AT CHANCELLOR HIGH SCHOOL SHOW WHY SUCH POLICIES ARE IN
NEED OF REVIEW

Spotsy Schools vs. Analgesic Underworld

RULES ARE RULES. Taken literally, that dogma means no questions, no shades
of gray. It's the opposite of judiciousness. That's why, while "zero
tolerance" policies are wildly popular with bureaucrats, they appear so
unfair to everyone else when applied without regard to circumstances.

Zero tolerance reared its empty head recently at our own Chancellor High
School in Spotsylvania County when a routine search turned up two Tylenol
tablets--the Medellin drug cartel is back!--in a student's backpack. The
student drew a five-day suspension.

A School Board-sanctioned policy, zero tolerance is part of Spotsylvania
schools' binding Student Code of Conduct. In this case, all sides agree,
school authorities followed the policy--from the search, to the disciplinary
action, to the student's rejected appeal--to the letter. No anguishing here,
no thinking that might cause a headache requiring a couple of Tylenol. The
boot was clearly prescribed by a policy that averts any liability threat to
the school system. The policy does, however, allow limited School Board
discretion, which is why the Chancellor High student served only half the
recommended 10-day suspension.

The School Board would do well to review its zero-tolerance policy. Room
certainly exists for self-criticism. The disciplined girl is a Governor's
School student, a testament to her academic prowess. Until she became a
nefarious Tylenol possessor, she had compiled a blemish-free school-conduct
record. During her exile, she had to rely on fellow students to help her
maintain her rigorous workload. This is education? How imbecilic.

No one suggests that school officials get pharmacy degrees to learn the
difference between over-the-counter painkiller and illicit drugs, or that
administrators lose interest in what students bring to the schoolhouse. But
punishment should fit the crime--or, as in this case, the noncrime.

Even in a school, where security is crucial, justice, which requires wisdom,
must have a place. The Spotsylvania school system should revisit its policy
of zero tolerance--with a bucket of whitewash. It should save just enough to
expunge this undeserved blot from the file of an exemplary student.